Category: Ramblings

I love Audio books, both cycling related and otherwise. I spend a fair amount of time on public transport and audio books are great for that. I also like listening to audio books while riding my bike. Now I don’t want to have a debate about whether or not that is safe. You can decide that for yourself, based on where you are, where you ride.

My old mountainbike has been stolen. Locked in front of a grocery store. Which is a pity. It wasn’t a particular expensive bike but it was a good bike. I started figuring out what I wanted to do. Buy a new bike? Commute on my Cross bike again? I ended up deciding to buy a cheap cheap bike to do these rides on.

If you have ever had a bad bike crash then this is might be familiar to you. 4 weeks ago I suffered a bad crash while commuting to work. I hurt my knee and my hip.

The crash itself was a comically slow one. I was just riding to work and because of some road works I had to take a different route than usual. That detour led me to a tunnel under the main road that I normally cross over. What I wasn’t aware of riding down to the tunnel, was that there was about 4 cm. Of ice covering the whole bottom of that tunnel. I did not notice it in time, and tried to ride all the way through, coming up just short of the exit. The front wheel slipped under me and came down with a bang on my side.

Cycling in winter is rarely fun. Wanting to keep our normal jobs, we start and complete mid-week rides in total darkness. Mechanicals become problems instead of annoyances. I, for one, don’t want to get stuck 15 miles from home with a mechanical problem or even a flat tire, if I can help it.